“Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:”
'Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him -' - Stephen reviews all of Israel's history as a pattern of rejecting, persecuting, and killing prophets. The phrase 'those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One' (tous prokatangellontas ten eisodon tou Dikaiou) refers to the prophets who foretold the Messiah. The accusation crescendos: 'And now you have betrayed and murdered him' - the present Sanhedrin stands in the succession of those who killed the prophets, and now they have killed the ultimate prophet, the 'Righteous One' (ho Dikaios), Jesus himself. Betrayal and murder: the charges are explicit and devastating.
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